Who was Silenus?
By Chelsie Vandaveer
July 15, 2005
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The genus, Silene, [si lee' ne] is a member of the Caryophyllaceae, the carnation or pink family, and composed of about five hundred species of annual, biennial, and perennial plants. The plants are mostly native to the Northern Hemisphere and their greatest abundance is found around the Mediterranean. Wild or cultivated, the various species are called "pinks", "campions", and, those with glandular trichomes (sticky hairs), "catchflies".
In the Middle Ages and early Renaissance, the Silene were not recognized as a single genus, but known under such Latin designations as Lychnis, a "red-flowered plant", Viscaria, a "viscous or sticky plant", and Muscipula, a "mousetrap". Linnaeus established the genus when he named the English catchfly, Silene anglica. The generic name honors a little known character from Greek mythology, but a player in one of its most famous stories.
Silenus, a member of the older race of satyrs, had befriended the young Dionysus (Bacchus, "noisy god") while he lived with Nysa and the other Nyseides (nymphs also known as the Hyades, See What's in a Name, October 5, 2001). Silenus became foster-father, tutor, and in later years, a follower of the wild child and last god to join the Olympians.
On one excursion, the drunken Silenus wandered away from the group of revelers and fell asleep in the rose garden of the king of Phrygia. The country people bound the old man with wreaths of flowers and took him to the king. The king recognized the prisoner. Silenus was cleaned up and treated to ten days of hospitality. Then the king returned him to Dionysus.
Dionysus was so grateful for the kind treatment of his 'father' that he granted the king one wish. When the greedy king realized that even food turned to gold at the touch of his lips, Midas begged a second wish—removal of the first wish. Dionysus sent Midas to bathe in the source of the River Pactolus. The river was said ever after to have abundant gold in its sands.
One supposes that Linnaeus when viewing the swollen, hairy calyx of a catchfly flower thought of the intoxicated, portly, and very hairy Silenus who could only be captured by mortals when bound by flowers.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia has a brief article about Silenus including a photograph of a bas-relief. To learn more and view the photograph, click on the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silenus
Click on the thumbnail to enlarge the image.
(Compiled from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, ed., John Murray, London, 1902; An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Nathaniel Lord Britton and Addison Brown, Dover, NY, 1970; and Taylor's Encyclopedia of Gardening, Norman Taylor, Houghton, Mifflin, Boston, 1961)
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
Suggested Reading:
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What color became the name of a flower? What's in a Name? - May 24, 2002
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